Under my Skin & Into my Blood
by SharingBlood
Summary: Taking of from 3x05 this is going in another direction into the land of Delena.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 (Elena)

"By all means… Carry on."

_It doesn't matter what he does, he's gotten under your skin, Elena. _

I tried to shut out the thoughts. Tried to shut my best friends too honest words out.

I couldn't. I sighed and looked up at Damon again, honestly wondering what he could see in me. Stefan was gone now, his shut off self careless about the heartfelt dialogue Damon and I had just exchanged. He was compelled to protect me he said. He was compelled to do what Damon has always done. Stefan tried to hide the evil of the world with good intention whereas Damon fought it with a brave heart. That was the biggest line between them to me. Their hearts. No one could feel as much as Stefan could, the reason why I loved him. He felt so passionately towards everything, it melted me. But no one could love like Damon. That is what ultimately made me fall in love with him. Damon's heart is fierce, it is dark, it is sometimes hard to understand… but it's pure. The purest I have ever seen. He offered a smirk and his hand to help me up. I didn't meet his eyes, almost afraid he would see my thoughts in them. I slung my arm over his shoulder almost immediately. How much blood had I lost? Just a bag and whatever was sucked out of me? I felt like I had rocks in the empty space. He was carrying me again. Up the stairs, to a spare room I could gather, but my eyes were closed, my head pressed snug into his chest. This had to be, undoubtedly the safest place I could be.

I had watched Damon prepare himself for death to keep me safe. He had sauntered forward to face evils with a strength beyond our knowledge just to protect me from it. I could smell his clothes and skin, and the scent almost made me fall asleep in his arms. He lay me down on a soft, but familiar bed. I opened my eyes and looked around.

"What are you doing?" I asked, trying to sit up, but too weak. He sat on the edge of the bed.

"I didn't want to throw you in some random room, besides, you seemed pretty cozy last time you were here." I smiled weakly and planted my head into his down feather pillow.

"Mmm." He chuckled as I started to drift to sleep. I felt the weight of him lift from the bed, and despite weakness and tiredness, I sat up as best as I could, my head spinning when I did.

"Don't go, Damon." I said, with unintentional tears welling in my eyes. The day flashing through me again. I wiped the tears away and he was there. He lay me back and covered me with his blanket, easing every movement as if I could break at any moment. I probably could. He was beside me then, laying with me, I was in his arms again.

"I'm right here, Elena. What happened to you today, will never happen to you again." He whispered. _You don't know that. You can't promise that. _I wanted to say, but the words didn't come. What came was a warmth that bloomed in my stomach and spread all the way through me. "You need to rest." He said, then planted a soft kiss on my forehead. Because of Stefan… because of Katherine really, I could only do and say so much to make Damon know what I felt, but somehow there were moments he just _knew _me. I opened my eyes, and took his hand, holding it up to me. I looked down to it, my eyes closing as I kissed it tenderly.

"I know how much you love me, Damon. I feel it. I want you to know that." I looked up into his eyes, they were wide, and he held the expression I had seen before but rarely. The expression that said _'I'm trusting you'_ that said _'I know, __**Elena**__… I know.'_ Then his lips quivered for the slightest moment before he caught it in his teeth.

"I do." He said.

_Should I continue?_


	2. Chapter 2

_**.REVIEWS. I love you people so much. Dear god. I hope you continue to enjoy this. I'm going little by little with this I think.**_

Chapter 2 (Damon)

_Drink. Drink and it might help drown these damn urges._ Right. I downed my bourbon and set the glass on the table. The girl of my dreams but better was asleep in my bed. Here I was drinking, trying to suppress this feeling. She could have... No. This promise was the only focus I had now. _I promise you... I will never leave you again. _These petty words, this all too easy promise made her completely easy. I hadn't left her side up till now, and I know better than to do it again. It makes her happy, and even that is enough. Loving Elena was the hardest thing I have ever done, even without her being with Stefan.

"Damon?" Elena's voice from my room, soft to the ear, but she wasn't calling me. I went upstairs, there in seconds. She was asleep, or at least seemed to be. I sat on the edge of the bed and leaned over her. Her eyes were shut tight in the next seconds. I watched her carefully and studied her. She moved slightly, her head turning, her heart beat harder... faster.

"Your okay." I said softly, touching her face with my fingertips. She calmed a bit it seemed, and her heart settled. I licked my lips and slowly slid my fingers off of her soft skin and got up. I went to the wall and leaned against it, listening to her heart beat, and closed my eyes.

Such a soft flutter.

Such a small thing.

How many hearts had I stilled in my existence? This one heart, meant more to me than anything else in the world. I felt myself calm. I opened my eyes when the beat of her heart and her breathing were both implying she was in the midst of a nightmare. Just had to ride it out, really. It wasn't long before she shot awake in the dim room.

"_**Jenna**!_" She yelled. I was holding her then, and she gasped for air.

"Damon." It wasn't a question. She gripped onto me in the first real embrace her and I had ever shared.

"Your okay, just relax." I reached over and turned on the light, she squinted her eyes and looked up at me, giving me the opportunity to wipe her tears away, then she pressed her face into my shirt and cried. "Your okay... everything's okay." Everything that happened gave Elena no opportunity's to even try to move on from the pain of Jenna's death. She had seen it happen, it was unfair to them both.

"I just keep seeing it happening." She pulled away from me and turned, sitting on the edge of the bed and I didn't advance. I didn't know what to say. "If there's anything I would want to forget... it's that." I nodded. It made sense of course.

"I can make it go away, Elena. Just like that." She thought for a moment, then nodded and turned back to me, breathing slowly. She was looking down then took a moment before raising her head. I raised my hands to hold her face, looking into her eyes.

"You didn't watch Klaus stake Jenna. You looked away. You don't remember seeing her die. You didn't watch."

"I didn't watch." She said blankly.

"You looked away." I stared at her for another moment, then stopped the compulsion. She blinked and looked at me.

"What happened?" She asked, looking around. She looked at me with curious eyes.

"You just had a bad dream." I said softly. She stared at me and blinked, looking around again. She held her face in her hands. "Are you okay?" I asked, looking at her cautiously. I didn't get what she was doing. She raised her head again and looked in my eyes.

"Things are never going to be okay, are they? This is always going to go on. The loss... the death... It's always going to be there, isn't it?" And there she was. The Elena she liked to hide. The Elena that lost her parents, all of them.

"Yes. Things will be okay, Elena," I put my hand over hers. "and yes... it's _always_ going to be there."


End file.
